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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756741">Park Crawl</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorched_wings/pseuds/scorched_wings'>scorched_wings</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman &amp; Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Affection, Aziraphale and Crowley Have Their Picnic (Good Omens), Best Friends, Blessing, Boating, Demons, Epilogue, Finally relaxed, Fluff, Friendship, Happy, Hyde Park, London, Love, M/M, Pedalos, Picnics, Platonic Life Partners, Platonic Soulmates, Post-Book, Post-Series, Temptation, The Serpentine Lake, angel - Freeform, lake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:40:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756741</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorched_wings/pseuds/scorched_wings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>'Crowley occupies himself by alternately dozing and influencing nearby children to mischief. Aziraphale disapproves, of course, but the demon catches him smile as he foments his sixth water fight of the day.'</p><p>With the apocalypse averted and their bosses off their backs, Crowley and Aziraphale can finally relax and enjoy each other's company. They begin to branch out from St James' and explore more of London's parks, starting with a trip to Hyde Park.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale &amp; Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Park Crawl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">St James’ has its charms: the lake, the statue-lined drive. The palace, of course. But at the end of the day, when you look beyond the discretion of the ducks and the opportunity to blend in among any number of other top-secret meetings, it is one of London’s smaller parks.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Good thing, really, that all this happened in the summer,’ Aziraphale tells Crowley. ‘Plenty of time to enjoy it all.’ They start with Hyde Park, the obvious really. Barely twenty minutes from the usual spot. Approaching from the Corner side, they pause for a moment to admire the great winged figure above the arch. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘How charming,’ Aziraphale declares. ‘So much better than the old one.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘The old one?’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘The old statue. A massive great horse. A massive great <em>sideways</em> horse. It was quite the embarrassment. A <em>spectacular confirmation of the artistic ignorance of the English</em>, people were calling it. Perhaps you were right to mostly sleep away the nineteenth century.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Haven’t regretted it yet. Shall we?’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The angel smiles and steps through the archway. He is immediately enticed by each of the various paths into the park.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘If we head left, there’s a rose garden,’ Crowley tells him, just to stop him dithering.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Have you been here much recently, then?’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Every so often. There’s a music festival here in July, always a good bet for an easy temptation or two.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The roses are beautiful, and far be it for Crowley to rush the angel. The sun is melting into the lake by the time they reach it, spilling golden light across the water. The ducks here are far less discerning, fat on children’s unwanted pizza crusts flung from the waterside restaurant. The pair lean against the bridge’s balustrade for a long moment. Crowley finds this is the most relaxed he’s been in millennia.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Oh, look! Pedalos!’ </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Absolutely not.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Oh, come on.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Out of the question. Let me hold onto <em>some</em> dignity.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">By the time they reach the entrance to the boathouse, though, the last boats have already set off.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Sorry, yeah, eight o’clock this time of year.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Oh, but it’s only ten past - we could pay a little extra? Sorry to be a bother.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The man’s patio furniture and fridge full of beer call to him louder than Aziraphale’s fistful of notes, but that’s nothing a judicious application of greed can’t fix.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘What a nice man.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Mm.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘And isn’t this fun, really?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘I don’t think I wore the right trousers for this to be <em>fun</em>, angel.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Though they give the boat back within the hour as promised, with Aziraphale making a note to influence the boat man’s boss to let him go two hours early the next day, they stay in the park for several more days. Sprawled on the grass just back from the lake, they are washed by the ebb and flow of the sun and moon. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Good thing I brought a picnic.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Crowley nods his assent, sinking his sharp teeth into a butterscotch tart. It is nice to not have to rush off.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Aziraphale has brought a few books, of course, and he relishes the chance to read a few of the more risqué ones out in the open now. In the pauses in conversation while the angel reads, Crowley occupies himself by alternately dozing and influencing nearby children to mischief. Aziraphale disapproves, of course, but the demon catches him smile as he foments his sixth water fight of the day. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Oh, they’ll be all soggy on the tube.’</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Crowley smirks at him, and then curls up in the miraculously brightening sunshine. This time, he stays asleep until the sun sinks once more to set the water alight. Aziraphale glances fondly over his copy of Joyce’s <em>Portrait of the Artist</em> at the demon, silhouetted black against the shimmering Serpentine. He seems to be positively basking.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There'll be at least one more chapter of this, where they'll be exploring some more of London's parks (and slowly moving in together...). </p><p>It's been fun to write fanfiction based on a work set somewhere I know well. So if anyone has requests for more Good Omens fics where the pair visit a specific place in England, let me know, and if I've been there I may well write it (Oxford, Reading, Brighton, London and East Surrey I all know pretty well for example).</p><p>I enjoy both romantic and platonic interpretations of this relationship, but my interpretation with this series is going to continue as one of deep and close friendship.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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